Originally named as Jay aka Jaya aka JayaSamhita, Mahabharat is a tale of winning over one’s own shortcomings too.

We talked about the difference between Jaya and Vijaya. Vijaya is achieved when you overpower someone else, but when you took full control of yourself, it is the Jaya.

If we look at the incidents happened from King Shantanu’s time till the end of the great deadly war of Mahabharat, we can find that DevVrat (who is now better known as Bheeshm or Bheeshma) is the one who achieved Jaya before everyone else. His vows of celibacy and serving Hastinapur throughout the life, shows his control on himself and more importantly his ambitions. His selflessness and devotion towards the greater good is unparalleled.

We often see that, in the society we expect others to fulfil their duties, but we often neglect our own. Bheeshma told one nice thing, that, why one should always expect parents to do sacrifice(s) for the child?! It is a child’s duty to do sacrifice for the parents, when needed.

Call it “the fate” or whatever but Shantanu lived a roller-coaster life. First he found his love in Ganga. His married life with Ganga resulted into 8 sons, including Bhesshma and some very “emotionally tough” days and months. And after all that Ganga went back to her place! After a few years when she returned his son DevVrat back, Shantanu got reason to cheer up and enjoy the life. Then he found his love again in Satyavati! His love however cost him another emotional baggage. He, throughout his life, considered himself responsible (correctly) for Bheeshm’s personal life, which was no more personal, but dedicated to Hastinapur by all means.

Blaming ourselves for the wrong decisions we took, never changes the course of events. It neither resolves any problem too.

May be sitting at a desk and analysing the course of events happened in his life, enables us to account Shantanu’s life, but when he was passing through the events, he probably took the decisions which he considered right at that time.

The married life of Shantanu and Satyavati was joyous and they were blessed with two sons, VichitraVirya and Chitrangad. Over the course of events, Over the period of time Shantanu met with his death living Satyavati, Chitrangad and VichitraVirya in the care of Bheeshm, Chitrangad was killed in a fight with a Gandharva (also named Chitrangad)! And, VichitraVirya was given the throne.

There comes the other important turn.

The king of Kashi (a kingdom in neighbourhood) arranged Swayamvar (choose the groom) ceremony for his three princesses. They were Amba, Ambika and Ambalika. Bheeshm and Satyawati was waiting for the invitation for the ceremony. The king of Kashi however didn’t invite them. Which made Bheeshm very furious and angry. He considered it as an offence against Hastinapur. As a wise politician he thought this incident in many perspective. It was a kind of insult of Hastinapur. And if he don’t take any action against it, it may give wrong message about the power of Hastinapur to other kings and kingdoms. And it would not be good for Hastinapur. So he decided to attend the ceremony and bring the princesses as the queens to be for Vichitravirya.

Showing off power periodically is a very important political aspect. The presentation of power makes enemies to remain at bay and it is resulted into war-less, peaceful time for the kingdom/country. That is the reason why countries arrange mock drills of their army, navy, airforce and newly invented weapons periodically.

So how Bheeshm was treated at the ceremony by King of Kashi? What will be the fate of Amba, Ambika, Ambalika, Bheesm, Hastinapur and how it will impact the future of Kuru clan?

The episode explores a lot of important traditions of that time. The “Swayamvar” was a ceremony where a girl was presented with candidates who consider themselves as worthy groom-to-be for her. She was then choose the one from them. So, it is a wrong perception that, females were considered as second gender during old times. They were free to choose their life partner and were even trained for war-skills as well. These groom-choosing ceremony was kind of a test where anyone can prove his skills, regardless of his family linage or cast or clan.

The idea of democracy is based on the equality of people. Everyone should be given equal opportunity to prove his/her metal. We know that at a later stage during Draupadi Swayamwar, Karn (aka Karna, often referred as Karan) was not given the opportunity just because he was not from royal lineage, and it became one of the very important points in the fate of Hastinapur and entire Bharat.

The episode is written nicely. The story of Mahabharat is known to people and it is the challenge for the script writer. The writer cannot play with the incidents and he need to write it in the way that every viewer, regardless of his knowledge about this famous epic should enjoy it. Also, the stuff should retain the quality, life style and way of living during that period and should be appealing to the modern audience as well. The script writer passes the test with distinction.

The job of art director is even challenging. Some of the sets presented are really remarkable. Even the wardrobe is very thoughtful. For Bheeshm it is “white” color throughout. For Satyawati there were cheerful colors till she got widowed, we see the precedence of black in her then after. The sets of the court of various kings should have different interior, and it should reflect different color schemes, which is done nicely.

In addition to well-written dialogs, the background music also play a very important role in creating the impact. The background music through out the episode really remarkable. The narration of Harish Bhimani leaves its impact too.

In terms of acting we see that each and every actor plays his/her part honestly and with sincere efforts. It would be wrong to tell the one is better than the other. However Mukesh Khanna will draw your attention as Bheeshm. He have the persona to play this remarkable character, and he played it effortlessly. Till date (we had seen many adaptations of this epic in TV) no one have performed “Bheeshm” better than him.

The DVD quality is remarkable. Mahabhart is not the tale of a family and the war of 18 days. It is a wisdom tale. It tells what to do and what not to. In every home it is good have such a good TV serial available.

If you like this article then do not forget to share it with your friends over various social networks via Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and others. And yes, you may like to subscribe to our RSS feeds and follow us on various Social networks to get latest updates for the site to land right in your mail box. And yes, do let us know your remarks via comments below, we love to hear from you.